Friday, October 22, 2010

Late night humour

If you've never seen the British political satire series, Bird & Fortune, this is what they do, hilarious takes on current events. This one's from 2008 but amazingly relevant to the UK's present budget constraints where they'll be ending up with two newly built aircraft carriers but there'll be a gap before they have British planes upon them. That predicament is neatly explained here:

Even by the low standards of defence procurement, the continued muddle is madness. Rather than fashioning defence forces around real needs, Britain continues to pretend it is capable of providing the full spectrum of military roles.

That ridiculous situation in Britain is not a perfect parallel for us but the point of making choices based on military needs rather than job considerations, etc. is an apt one in that editorial. Making decisions carefully, in processes with integrity, helps you avoid white elephants. The UK looks to have two big ones on its hands now.

And you may not think it's possible but the British Joint Strike Fighter purchase, as it stood in 2008, gets some comic attention in the video too.